Posted on 12/18/2001 6:07:56 AM PST by X-USAF
You dont like the current slate of holidays that we celebrate here in America? Then why not create one of your own? That's exactly what Ronald Everett did back in 1966. He named it "Kwanzaa."
Since then, many people have embraced this new holiday. Check out almost any appointment calendar and you'll find it duly noted on Dec. 26 that "Kwanzaa begins." Stroll through your local card and party store and you'll find Kwanzaa items.
You can even look it up in the World Book Encyclopedia, where you'll find a nifty little article that says Kwanzaa was created by "a black cultural leader." And those who celebrate it will often tell you that it's not just for African Americans.
They're not telling you the whole story; in fact, it's doubtful that they even know the origins of Kwanzaa. Few people do, because the voluminous amount of ink expended on Ronald McKinley Everett most often refers to him as Dr. Maulana Karenga and rarely examines his past.
However, the story of Ron Everett, aka Dr. Karenga, has been told notably in a Dallas Morning News article from Dec. 26, 1996, and in David Horowitz's late publication, Heterodoxy, in the December 1999 issue.
The story behind the holiday and the man who created it is most interesting.
Forget the notion that Kwanzaa is a holiday for all people. Dr. Karenga states that he created it at the height of the black liberation movement as part of a "re-Africanization" process "a going back to black."
Dr. Karenga, still just "Ron Everett" at the time, was heavily involved in the black power movement. He started an organization called US. The letters have nothing to do with "United States" but mean simply "US," as opposed to "THEM."
He dropped the Everett name, adopted the Swahili one, which means "master teacher," shaved his head, and began wearing traditional African clothing. US members, similarly attired, often clashed with other black militant groups such as the Black Panthers. The fighting was about which group would control the new Afro-American Studies Center at UCLA.
There were incidents involving beatings and shootings, including one in 1969 in which two US members shot and killed two Black Panthers. Dr. Karenga had other run-ins with the law, including charges that he abused women.
In 1971, he was convicted of assaulting female members of US, and he served time in prison. An LA Times snippet describes the torture of the women as involving a hot soldering iron placed in the mouth of one, while the other's toe was mashed in a vice.
Dr. Karenga says that he is the victim; he was quoted in the News: "All the negative charges are in fact disinformation and frame-ups by the FBI and local and national police."
One thing that's interesting to note about the inventor of Kwanzaa: Practically all of his crimes were committed against black people. And yet, today, he is simply known as an academic who created a holiday for cultural unity.
Nine years after Kwanzaa was invented, he decided to moderate his views and became a Marxist. In 1979, he was hired to run the Black Studies Department at Cal State Long Beach, in all likelihood, the first ex-con to do so.
And so this is Kwanzaa. The militant past of the creator is now ignored in favor of the so-called seven principles of Nguza Saba principles such as unity, family and self-determination that could have come from Bill Bennett's "Book of Virtues." The word "Kwanzaa" is Swahili, meaning something like "fresh fruits of harvest."
No one remembers the part about "re-Africanization" or the sevenfold path of blackness that Dr. Karenga once espoused. Hardly anyone remembers the shootings, the beatings,the tortures and the prison terms that were once the center of his life. It's just not PC to bring that sort of stuff up now that Kwanzaa is commercialized and making big bucks.
Dr. Karenga does his part to promote the holiday and forget the past. In December, he goes on his annual "Kwanzaa circuit" of speeches and appearances. And he writes.
Remember that little article in the World Book Encyclopedia that legitimized Dr. Karenga as a "black cultural leader"? You guessed it he wrote the article himself.
Happy Kwanzaa.
I promptly went home, got our old Christmas tree and some decorations, hauled it to the school (shoved aside their display on the KORAN, that mentioned Allah every second word!!!!!!!) and set the tree up in the lobby.
The secretaries smiled and said, "Thank you."
I'm going back in today at noon as the lunch room supervisor....let's see what happens!
I ran into someone who made a distinction between a Jamaican and an "African-American", as if the Jamaican was descended from ancestors who came from some other place than Africa. Strange what words do to perceptions of difference.
All one has to know is the political backgroud of its founder. This is not a racist comment. It's a fact.
This article is racist by the same definition. Any statement or group of words that refutes liberal orthodoxy is, by definition, racism. Facts are irrelevent; it's the dogma that matters.
I put my pole up yesterday. Tommorrow I will tell the story of the Festivus Miracle.
Swahili is spoken in eastern Africa.
Less then 5% of American blacks can trace thier roots to eastern Africa. The reason, is that the slave trade took place on the western portion of the continent.
But what the hay! This German/Swede gets as drunk as an Irishman on St. Pats.
Well, except for the giant economic push for holiday gift buying giving.
If I was soooo unhappy in a country, I would LEAVE..like I will leave if Hillary becomes President. Why don't the blacks go make a super country in Africa where everybody is alike? This isn't racist, but it will appear to be so to some.
Semper Observant
On the first day of Kwanza... my childrens asked me, "mamm, what is Kwanzaa for, anyway?"
On the second day of Kwanzaa... some lady bothered me. I cursed her out and I say "no, I don't wan't no Olan Mills pictures and quit calling here!"
On the third day of Kwanzaa... I went out to the store. I needed beer and cigarets but they was closed, so I smashed out the windows, did a drive-by and cursed em all out.
On the fourth day of Kwanzaa... I turned on the t.v. Young and the Restless, All of My Children, One Day to Live, and then "Oprah" at 4 o'clock.
On the fifth day of Kwanzaa... My check came in the mail. AFDC! "Thank you Lord" I said, "come on kids, let's go to the store for some collard greens, hamhocks and some cheese."
On the sixth day of Kwanzaa... the police rang the bell. They served a warrant, I nearly passed out! But it wa ok, som woman had said I stole her wigs, but I told em all I was gonna give em back anyway.
On the seventh day of Kwanzaa... I poured myself a drink. I drank 40 ounces, got really full then lost my mind. I drove down the street cursing out everyone I saw. Then I bashed the Cadilac upside a Dairy Queen.
On the eighth day of Kwanzaa... I bought a TV Guide... not much had happened. I was hungover from a bad headache from Schiltz Malt Liquor Bull. I tried to stay home and be quiet, take my nerve pills... you can just feel Kwanzaa in the air.
On the nineth day of Kwanzaa... I painted all my nails. Two shades of purple, one shade of turquoise, throwed on some glitter, did em up real nice... I had looked good! Then I drove on down to Popeye's, bought me some chicken and I stayed home and looked at t.v.
On the tenth day of Kwanzaa... Shoplifting was the thing. 10 Now or Laters, 9 little candies, 8 cans of tuna fish, 7 little niknaks, 6 pack of Budweiser, 5 Lee Press-On Nails, 4 pieces of gum, 3 large fries, 2 days back in jail... it was Kwanzaa, so what the hell?
On the eleventh day of Kwanzaa... I got out on parole. I rolled a big joint, went down to church and talked all out of my head. Got happy and shouted, passed out and hollered. They called 911 and the Lord set me free! Gave my testimony, stepped on home, didn't even remember where I stayed, I woke up real hungry and confused.
On the twelfth day of Kwanzaa... My childrens gathered around me. Lincoln, Alow vera, Gyne-Lotrimin, LemonJello, OrangeJello, Tinactin, Tempasia, KMartina, Fallopia, Shi'Thead, Shameka-Vonquishia, Salmonella, Chlamydia Champagne, Democtorius, Saskatoon, Cheeto and Skuketia... And it had really started to feel more like it was getting near Kwanza
Kwanzaa Links
So This Is Kwanzaa - Newsmax.com
Ann Coulter on Kwanzaa - TownHall.Com
Mona Charen on Kwanzaa - Jewish World Review
Tony Snow on Kwanzaa - Jewish World Review
The TRUE Spirit of Kwanzaa - The New American magazine
The Story of Kwanzaa - The Dartmouth Review
The Truth About Kwanzaa - A Christian Viewpoint
A Momentary Loss of Reason - Binghamton Review
Michael Savage on Kwanzaa - NewsMax
Ron Karenga - Dialog from the Black Radical Congress - December 1999
Happy Kwanzaa - FrontPage Magazine - Link may not work, if it doesn't click here for the Free Republic thread.
I'm Dreaming of a White Kwanzaa - LewRockwell.com - Link may not work, if it doesn't click here for the Free Republic thread.
Letter to Editor - Ypsilanti Courier
What is Kwanzaa? - File Passed Around On Internet About Kwanzaa
Happy Kwanzaa by Patrick S. Poole
Ron Everett (aka. Maulana Karenga) / US Links
US, the organization the Ron Everett founded in 1965, the organization that murdered 5 members of the rival Black Panther Party, is back - well it was back in 1995, but they haven't updated their website since then. Their website is here.
Afrocentrism Links
Clarence Walker encourages black Americans to discard Afrocentrism
Fallacies of Afrocentrism - Grover Furr
The Skeptics Dictionary - Afrocentrism
The Trap of Ethnic Identity - New York Times - Jan 1997
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